Marvin Fong / The Plain DealerWilliam Buford passed on a chance to be chosen in June's NBA Draft for another year in school and to potentially improve his stock for 2011. That decision paid big dividends for Evan Turner, and OSU coach Thad Matta hopes more players adopt that strategy.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State coach Thad Matta has acquired unwanted expertise on one-and-done college basketball players, becoming a go-to quote on freshmen leaving college after one season since five Ohio State freshmen departed Columbus in a three-year span.

With Evan Turnernow preparing for the June 24 NBA Draft as a probable top-three choice after being college's basketball's player of the year as a junior, Matta won't be shy about pointing to Turner's way as another option.

Maybe, even slightly, it already helped with Ohio State's William Buford, who will be back for his junior year. Buford didn't ask Matta to help him gain an NBA evaluation of his status, but Matta did it anyway.

Regardless, Buford said all along he'd be back for a third year, and Matta's expectations are high.

"You're always looking out for your guys and getting them to understand what is best for them. Some listen and some don't," Matta said Wednesday at a news conference to officially introduce new OSU assistant coach Dave Dickerson. "We finally had the proof for kids that going back to school is not all that bad.

"Evan probably made himself an extra $7 million by doing that. So Will has a pretty good understanding of what he needs to work on, and I do think he will play in the league, there's no question in my mind."

Matta's math would be based on where Turner was pegged to go in the draft last year. If Turner had turned pro after his sophomore season and been the No. 12 pick, which was the range he was projected, he would have been guaranteed about $5.3 million over three years. If he fulfills projections of being the No. 2 pick in June, he would earn $12.4 million over three years.

Buford was, at best, a likely late first-rounder if he had come out. Matta said he wants Buford to get stronger and focus on driving to the basket even more, but expects him to have a great season. Then maybe Buford will join Turner on that side of the argument.

"It's not about getting to the NBA, it's about the quality of life you're going to live for the rest of your life," Matta said. "I think that Evan's quality of life, by coming back, escalated to a whole other level."

New point guards: A year ago, Turner began his point guard transition during this time of year, during Ohio State's supervised skill instruction. Matta said veterans David Lighty, Jon Diebler and Buford are going through the same exercises, working on their ball-handling as one, or all, look to replace Turner in running the offense.

Matta would like the Buckeyes to play much the same way, despite losing Turner's unique talents, and he's not sure how much incoming freshmen ballhandlers Aaron Craft, Jordan Sibert and Lenzelle Smith will be able to play immediately.

Dickerson's roots: Dickerson, a nine-year assistant at Maryland coming off a five-year tenure as the head coach at Tulane, said he initially considered taking a year away from coaching, but accepting the job at Ohio State was an easy one.

One reason was that his wife, the former Laurette Newsom, is a Cleveland native and John Marshall High graduate, and her family still lives in Cleveland. The two met as students at Maryland.

He also was encouraged to take the job by Gary Williams, his mentor and boss at Maryland and the former Ohio State coach.

"To this day he'll probably say this is one of the best jobs he ever had," Dickerson said of Williams. "This is one of the best jobs in the country."

Florida game set: The Buckeyes will play at Florida on Nov. 16 for an ESPN game in the only nonconference already set for next season. Florida will return the visit in the 2011-12 season. This year's game will be part of ESPN's 24-hour basketball marathon.

Ohio State's last visit to Gainesville was an 86-60 blowout on Dec. 23, 2006, that served as an eye-opener and set up a national title rematch between the teams just over three months later.

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.